Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey

This is an Interesting and Sad, But a Little Unsatisfying documentary about one of the most famous unsolved murder cases in modern times. This three part series does a good job laying out the case from the night of the murder until now. The case outlines all the permutations and crazy years of focusing on the parents as the prime Suspects. The documentary does a lot but, what it does not do, is definitively point the finger at an alternative suspect. I think the main point of the series is to create pressure on the intransigent Boulder Police to allow outside agencies to use modern forensics to identify the real killer. This is still so sad and I hope the killer is caught while her Dad is still alive.

I remember when this case was unavoidable in the news and a national obsession, people passionately "believed" the parents were guilty based on weak circumstantial evidence, opinions about child beauty pageants, and police supposition.

Ignore the other reviewers who say it's a documentary series made by/for the Ramseys. The actual facts of the case are that the police jumped to conclusions, ignored and kept secret the DNA evidence that exonerated the family, but the police just "believed" the parents were guilty. Everything flowed from there. It was sickening media and police malpractice. The hell this family was put through reveals a lot more about the public's relationship to sensational "news" that was really just entertainment and clickbait.

If you watched the 2016 release, "The Case Of JonBenet Ramsey", on Prime Video, you will be disappointed by this 3 episode series!. This series is so slanted towards the pro-Ramsey side, that a very large amount of evidence is completely ignored/omitted. This was largely about John Ramsey and his continual denial that no one in his family could possibly know anything or anyone involved in the death of his daughter. If you have not done so already, please watch " The Case Of....", which is on Prime Video, and watch a team of expert forensic investigators, as they deal with the evidence regarding this horrific crime. The case they make, in regards to who actually could have committed this murder is extremely compelling!.

And an investigation.

Our so-called media just loves to paint people into corners, especially when the people are wealthy, famous, and/or can be perceived as 'controversial'. The Ramsey family were certainly wealthy, and some viewed the pageant circuit as controversial. It could also be argued that the family was somewhat famous, at least in the immediate area, so check, check and check.

Given Joel Berlingers diving into other cases, I went in hoping for a documentary that explored all aspects, and not just the popular narrative driven by legacy media. I was not disappointed.

Given the perspective of The West Memphis Three, and how his and one other doc managed to overturn the insanity of 'Satanic Panic' and ultimately free three completely innocent young men, I'm hopeful that we may someday be able to say that Jon Benet wasn't harmed by Patsy, by Jon, or (the worst accusation I've heard) her brother, Burke.

The ultimate failure ultimate goes to the ridiculous handling of the crime scene and that of the police. I've never seen such a mismanaged cluster by so many, who jumped to immediate conclusions, yet made absolutely zero effort to explore all options, and not just one.

OF COURSE any investigation should and usually does center on the small inner circle, HOWEVER, you must simultaneously and methodically gather as much evidence as humanly possible, retain the integrity of the scene (remove all family immediately) and perform extensive and thorough forensic searches AND NOT TELL THE FAMILY TO DO SO, and CERTAINLY not alone. It's nothing short of a miracle that none of the family were charged- but they've certainly endured an ugly cloud of suspicion and ludicrous accusations since that day, and due to the complete and utter ineptitude of numerous law enforcement representatives, nothing of any substance was ever found.

One hopes that, much the same as the Memphis Three case, if no one is arrested, maybe innocent people are able to prove their innocence. Which is directly contrary to how our justice system is structured to work- INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY- not the other way around.

I knew the case of the mysterious death of JonBenét Ramsey from podcasts. At first view, the case is like hundreds of others - the child goes missing, no one knows anything, no one has saw anything, so the parents are suspects. The difference, however, is that here the police literally did everything not to solve the investigation. They make a lot of mistakes, and while collecting evidence, they forget why they called.

Could we find out who killed the girl if only the police did what they should? I don't know, but it would be nice if the police were not extremely incompetent in such delicate cases.

The documentary doesn't talk about anything that hasn't already been said. However, it's a very good summary of the investigation, the collected evidence and the theorys about the girl's death (perhaps focusing too much on one of the theories, but still).

It's sad to watch documentaries like these, because they remind us that sometimes the perfect crime is the result of a lack of knowledge and investigative skills, not a calculating villain with super intelligence.

It's worth watching, but it's even better to google the case and listen to a podcast about it (for example, "Deception Detective", who recorded 7.5 hours of material on the subject), because Netflix, as usual, omits a lot of police negligence, and oversimplifies some threads.